Bowling Green, KY Marathon and Half

Nov. 4, 2018

4:20:15  36/129 Overall  3^rd in 60-69/Jodi-1:57:50  92/365  Grand Master (over 50) Champion

                        When Jodi mentioned that she’d like to visit family in Indiana and Kentucky this November, I found that Bowling Green, KY has a marathon and a half that weekend, so I signed us up. That way I could get another state done on my second go round and Jodi could get a good training-run half-marathon race in. Bowling Green looked to have some serious hills and it did not disappoint with 4 long steep ones in the first 5 miles and then in miles 14-19 since it was a two-loop course. I wanted to see where I might be in running a BQ time of 4:05 so I ran a 2:02 first half that felt great after the hills with my paces right around 9 minutes after the first 3-4 miles. But then when I hit the first big hill again in mile 14 and the wind was in my face, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I decided to walk as needed especially on the hills and just finish. I sorely wanted to quit a couple of times. Thankfully Jodi met me on the course a few times and ran with me and kept me going. She ended up with 18 miles after running the half. After she ran me through the finish, it was so exciting to find out that she had won the Grand Masters award for fastest female over 50! That was particularly impressive after having walked the Indy half with her cousin and having been on her feet for over 4 ½ hours doing it the day before in Indy. (More on that below.) I gave back a lot of time in the second half and finished in 4:20:15. My quads and lower back were pretty sore during that second trip around the course, so I was very happy to be done. And along with Jodi’s big win, I found that I got 3^rd in 60-69 and was oldest male to place in age group awards! We also enjoyed starting and finishing at the ballpark used by the minor league baseball Bowling Green Hot Rods. I noted that a couple of current SF Giants played there: Matt Moore and Albert Suarez.

This was Marathon #162; 26 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Photos of Indy, Bowling Green, Mayfield, Nashville and Knoxville: View Photos

(The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)

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            Our trip to Indy actually started a year ago after we had run the Indianapolis Full (me)l and Half (Jodi). We spent some time with Jodi’s cousin, Clint. She offered to do the half with him if he would do some training for it because he was so inspired and hoped to get healthier and start running again. Friday night, Jodi and I ate dinner with her dad and step-mom, John and Judy and her sister-in-law, Jenni in a great restaurant which had been recommended by the owner of the Airbnb where we spent the night. It was a short visit, but so great to be able to spend some time with them while we were close to where they live in Kokomo. Well, Clint’s training turned out to be minimal, but he still wanted to go for it, and Jodi agreed to walk with him as far as he could go. She had even tried to talk him into doing the 5K instead of the half, but he was insistent on trying to do the half.

            They had many adventures including losing sight of the pack in the first mile and getting lost and trying to stay ahead of the “meat wagon”. I had dropped them off at the start and then gotten breakfast. The race course went close by where we were staying so I was able to walk to mile 9 and wait and wait and wait for them in the freezing cold. Interesting to observe the folks at the back of the pack and then finally see Clint and Jodi come into sight. It didn’t seem like Clint would get past 10 miles, but I met them at the finish and he seemed to have gotten a second wind. Since they had lost miles early attempting to locate the course, Clint insisted that they add 1.5 more miles to get 13.1 on Jodi’s Garmin. So, while they did that, I got a table at Steak and Shake so they could quickly get their hard-earned food rewards and recuperate. It may have taken 4:37, but Clint got it done! And then Jodi and I drove 3 hours to Bowling Green to get ready for the next days’ race.

           

            The Bowling Green packet pick-up and pasta dinner were at the Corvette Museum as BG is where they are made. We enjoyed being able to look around and even sit in one; close as I’ll get to driving one. We spent Saturday night in BG and ran the races on Sunday morning before heading to Mayfield, KY for the next 3 days to spend some time with Jodi’s mom and step-dad. In Mayfield we got to see the largest warehouse I’ve ever seen which is where Mike and Nancy work for a shoe-distribution company. The owner looks like Santa and has a huge guitar collection as you can see in the photos. Mayfield is similar to Mayberry, but it has a Wal-Mart and many other major chains. We saw a number of deer out in the country and enjoyed running in the cutest park. We also took a trip to Paducah where we saw some amazing historical murals along the Tennessee River overlook and the National Quilt Museum.

            On Wednesday we headed to Nashville where we took a two-hour bus tour of some of the sights there including the capitol, Ryman Auditorium and Country Music Hall of Fame, honky-tonks and recording studios, and Vanderbilt University. Plenty of things to visit in-depth on our next trip there, but we didn’t have time this trip as we quickly headed on to Knoxville to visit some of my cousins there.

            We got to see Kathy and Lloyd Smith and Darlene and John Bishop. Dar and JB retired from working close to 40 years at Camp Awana and now live in the penthouse at Kathy and Lloyd’s. It was a short time, but we shared some good meals and conversations. Dar and I even had time for a quick 9-holes on their par 3 course so that was a bonus. Jodi and I flew home from Nashville on Friday having gotten to see all those that we had hoped to see and do all the things we had hoped to get in, so it was a very successful trip covering over 987 miles in the car. We came home to Charlotte, Layla, and CIM who were very happy to have us home!

           

           

           

Bizz Johnson 50K Ultra-Marathon and Jodi’s 50^th Birthday Party

Oct. 7, 2018/Oct.13, 2018

6:05:33 16/17 of 31 Overall   Both 2^nd in Age Groups

       Be careful what you influence! 😊 Five years ago I coached Jodi to her first marathon and in the process got not only a bride, but a distance-running fiend! Many months ago, Jodi determined that she wanted to run a 50K to help celebrate her turning 50. However, she ran (no pun intended) into many obstacles. The perfect one by the Golden Gate Bridge at Rodeo Beach on her actual birth date was cancelled.            
     There were many other options including doing a marathon and adding 5 miles, but most ultras involved either/or too much travel and too much mountain climbing or too much hot weather. (I debated with myself whether I’d be able to run it with her because even though I’d run 50 milers in the past, it was the distant past as in the 1980s and my last 50K was in 1997.)

            Finally, Jodi decided that Bizz Johnson looked to be the most runner-friendly with service-road to run on that was not technical and net elevation-drop with minimal climbing. Michelle Gabrielson is from Susanville and had run the marathon many years ago and told me that I should do it since it was a lot of fun so that was a good recommendation. That helped me to think that I could do the 50K myself, too.

            We drove to Susanville on Saturday morning (a 6-hour drive, not counting stops). The small expo was at an historical railroad depot since the race was on a Rails-to-Trails path and was very quaint. Susanville has a population of around 16,000 and is an hour and a half from Reno and about 2 hours from the Oregon border. It is very remote and still reflects its old west beginnings. Its founder named it after his daughter, Susan. It was a mining, then logging town, but now its biggest employers are the two nearby prisons. (I learned all this from the history posters at the depot and the nifty visitor guide.)

            We didn’t have to get up too early Sunday as the race didn’t start until 8. We did have to be at the depot at 7 to be driven to the start at 5200’ and about 26 miles from town. It was 31 degrees, but the sun was up so we just wore short sleeves, shorts, and gloves knowing that it would soon warm-up. The 50K runners ran out about 2.5 miles and then back to the start area where we joined by the full marathoners who started at 9. There were about 100 doing the 26.2 miler so we had more company to run with along the way.

            We followed a run/walk pattern for most of the race of running until our watches hit a mile mark and then power-walking for 1-2 minutes. This technique allowed us to run very strongly and consistently at 9:30-9:40 pace in the run segments. We had fun chatting with numerous folks as we all leap-frogged each other during the race. The aid stations also took some extra time as we made sure to eat and drink enough and chat a bit, too. One guy helping is 80 now, but he had run the Crater Lake Marathon 40 years in a row and won it overall at age 57 in time of 3:07. (Next to Big Sur, Crater Lake is the hardest regular marathon course that I’ve run. I ran it in 2011 in 4:31.)

            The first half of the course was basically just trees for scenery so it got a bit monotonous, but the second half had more rocks, rivers, bridges and tunnels so was more interesting. Jodi made it interesting, too, by taking pics of horses, dogs, tunnels, and aid station food. We found that our legs were strong, and we didn’t bonk or hit the wall, but we were ready to be done after 6 hours of running. In fact, our last mile was our fastest! However, we were very glad to be able to sit-down and finally relax!

This was Marathon #161; 25 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Photos of both 50K and 50^th birthday: https://photos.shutterfly.com/story_invite/b6a79ebf-b5bf-4b03-82c4-3ba93b136cee/70232482266?cid=SHARALEMAIL&_branch_match_id=474416565644165351

(The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)

Jodi’s 50^th Birthday Party

            Since Jodi was born in 1968, we decided to have a 60s-themed birthday party. (I was all for that since I had saved my double-knit bell-bottoms that I wore in college for an occasion such at this one!) We found more costume-stuff from a co-worker of Jodi’s and, interestingly, at a vintage costume shop in Susanville. We talked to Virginie about incorporating 60s icons such as bell bottoms, VW buses, NBC Peacock for color TV coming into existence, and peace signs into a cake. Jodi chose her favorite flavor of pumpkin which is especially appropriate and prevalent in October.

            Since my brother, Bill and I had a huge collection of albums from the 60s we displayed some of them and had a little contest to see who could name the artists for each of them. We also had a 1968 trivia game where we could test everyone’s memory of some famous events and people. Some of the guests even dressed-up and we persuaded my mom to wear a tie-died top.

            Jodi’s response: “My birthday party was the best ever; it may be the only big bash I have ever had. I absolutely loved by cake!”

Cheyenne Marathon

Sep. 23, 2018

4:39:41 70/164 Overall   443/808 Male  1/2 in 65-69

            Marathon #160 (and #25 in doing 50 states at least twice) was a different kind of challenge for a lot of reasons: 6000’ elevation for starters (at my age, reduced lung capacity is already a problem); the first aid station was not until mile 6 and there were not enough the rest of way to help with dry air (10% humidity); dirt/gravel road for most of first 8 miles; seemingly 2/3 of the course being uphill; running solo for much of the run because there were fewer than 200 in the full; temps rising into high 70s by finish. It’s always a risk to run an inaugural marathon because they will make a lot of mistakes (and hopefully learn from them). All that being said, I actually enjoyed most of the run because I realized a fast time was not the goal. By slowing down and walking as needed, I finished without much soreness (my last mile was my fastest).

            The race started at 6:20AM, but it was still dark. We had to walk from the dark parking lot about ¼ mile to the starting line, also in the dark. There were no porta-potties and no open buildings, so I just waited in my car for the start. “Very rustic, out in the country and isolated” describes the start area. I ran the first few miles through rolling hills on a gravel/dirt road alone, but then the 4:25 pace group caught me and I enjoyed their company for 3-4 miles before they left me at the first aid station at mile 6. The course finally ran through the city on a good asphalt road surface and headed out to the other end of town. There continued to be long, steady uphills including one like Hospital Hill. We did get to run some down hill on the way back which was nice. We ran through the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo grounds, and then with about 3 miles to go I hooked up with 2 ladies from upstate New York. They were both in their 50s and had run Boston before, but like I was, they were just getting through this one. It really helped to have folks to chat with, and we had fun finishing up. Their families were cheering them with .2 to go and I thanked them for the fun I had with their moms/wives. After I finished, the lady in the green in the above pic asked to take my picture. She explained that she was Ms Wyoming, Mobility-impaired, and was grooming the girl in the chair to become so, too. The lady has MS and has had over 45 operations for it and some accidents she has had. She has been relearning to walk this last year. I told her that running a marathon is a lot easier than what she has overcome.

            So, my time was one of my slowest, but I got in a good long training running for running the 50k on Oct. 7 with Jodi to celebrate her turning 50 on the 13^th. I did get 1st in my age group and got the cute mug and a cool medal.

This was Marathon #160; 25 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/gallery/4feba295-4764-4379-930e-f53f8ac30145?type=shared (The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)

Cheyenne Trip

            I flew into Denver which is only an hour and a half drive from Cheyenne. On the drive to Cheyenne I took the long way so that I could visit Rocky Mountain National Park (and get in free with my Golden Eagle senior pass😊) and Estes Park. I saw a herd of elk and then saw one close-up as it crossed the road right beside me just as I was leaving Estes Park.

            Arriving at my motel in Cheyenne, I noted the decorated boot at the entrance. Later I found out that there are about 50 8-foot boots throughout the city so you will see a number of them in the pics. Saturday morning, I visited the historical museum and saw the capitol which is undergoing a 3 year renovation and (unlike High Speed Rail) is on time and on budget. Wyoming became the 44^th state in 1890 and has a population about the same as Fresno (500,000). When it became a state, it included suffrage for women; the first state to ever do that. I also took a tour of the old governor’s mansion. It is fully decorated in a décor of mid-1900s and included a Royal typewriter, game/sun room, and kids’ door with Beatles’ poster on it. Who remembers Jolly Time popcorn? We had that when we were kids in Calistoga.

            I picked up my bib at the Cheyenne Depot where there are a couple of more decorated boots and was were the race would finish. I enjoyed the speakers at the expo, both of whom live in Cheyenne: Brent Weigner has run over 350 marathons including in 160 countries and all 7 continents 10 times. Jerry Reif has run a sub 3 hour marathon and BQed in all 50 states. He just turned 50 and is hoping to run sub 3 in 4 decades. (See their stories at https://www.cheyenne.org/race/?RL=1 ).

            After the race on Sunday, I took a two-hour bus tour during which I learned a lot of old west history of Cheyenne. Wild Bill Hickock, Bat Masterson, and many other characters lived here. Like so many old west towns, it provided 3 things to the cowboys: alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. Calamity Jane came from San Francisco to ply her trade. Unfortunately, she brought an STD that spread quickly to patrons and other “ladies”. Hence, the nickname “Calamity.” Cheyenne is also host to the largest rodeo in the world for 10 days each July. Our bus stopped for us to tour the rodeo museum. The statue of “Champion” Lane Frost shows him on a steer just before he was thrown off at 7.5 of the required 8 seconds. The steer then speared him; he was the last fatality at Cheyenne back in 1989.

            I had dinner at Sanford Grub and Pub and enjoyed perusing all the sports and historical memorabilia throughout it. I also got an amazing rib dinner for under $20. I also got gas in Wyoming for $2.75; great not to pay CA prices/taxes at the pump! On the way back to Denver on Monday, I headed toward Buffalo Bill’s grave/museum and Lookout Mountain. On the way I saw a turn-off sign for Regis University. I immediately took a quick exit to take a look at it because it is the very university from which Jodi received her nursing BS. Very fun find!

            Buffalo Bill was quite a colorful character. His Wild West show toured the world from late 1880s to mid-1910s. It included 4 stops in Fresno. Annie Oakley was one of his featured performers.

Photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/story_invite/d0ae61e6-e81c-44aa-aa0f-3ee97f470683/70231134722?cid=SHARALEMAIL  (The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)

Volkman ran hard to reach milestone (100 marathons)

Volkman ran hard to reach milestone

Published online on Tuesday, Jun. 09, 2009

By Matt James / The Fresno Bee

My favorite John Volkman story is not the time he lost five toenails during a race and went into shock.

It isn't the time he was so distraught that he and a girlfriend had broken up that he lost 20 pounds and ran his best marathon in years.

It isn't the time he ran two marathons in two states on the same weekend. (He's done that twice, actually.)

It isn't even the time he and his brother Bill flew to Arkansas to run in a marathon together in honor of their father who had just died.

No, my favorite John Volkman story is that he has written two somewhat noteworthy books, one of which sold 3,000 copies, and that seems quite a lot for a book about "collaborative library research."

It is amazing what we don't know about each other.

Many of us are great listeners. Many of us are great talkers. But there are few who do both well. Volkman is one of those people.

His stories roll downhill, in the sense that he gets excited telling them and they get faster and faster. But you can also see he's paying attention when you talk, not just thinking of what he's going to say next. That's too much of a rarity these days.

Volkman makes today's Sports section because Sunday in Casper, Wyo., he ran his 100th marathon, an accomplishment only two other Fresno runners are known to have achieved: Bob Lindsey and Juan Sobenes.

Lindsey ran 114 marathons before retiring. Sobenes was 68 years old when he ran his 100th in Boston in 2006.

There's no telling how many Volkman will run. He has three more this fall -- Omaha, Neb., Detroit and Philadelphia -- before he's run a marathon in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. After that, he can rattle off another dozen marathons he wants to run for the first time, and then a few in Europe. With classic librarian efficiency and planning, he says he's been "waiting for the exchange rate to get better."

Not that he's had time to go abroad anyway. Volkman has run 47 marathons since 2001. At age 58, he's relatively young for having already reached this milestone, and his Wyoming time of 4:03.54 this weekend is pretty remarkable for a 100th. Especially when you consider Casper was his fifth marathon in eight weeks.

The man didn't limp to 100; he sprinted downhill.

As for possibly running on all seven continents, he has no interest in going anywhere near Antarctica.

"You know there are 10 provinces in Canada," he says.

Ah yes, there's always the northern tour.

After playing basketball and baseball in high school, Volkman didn't start running until age 30, after a teacher at Sanger High dared him to run the local 10k. From there, he was hooked, training so hard that within a year, the spring of 1981, he broke three hours in his first marathon (2:58.43).

After graduating from San Jose State, Volkman moved to the Central Valley from Calistoga to be librarian at Sanger High. He did that for 10 years, then was librarian at Hoover High for 16 years, and he's been a librarian at Reedley High for the past seven years.

Then, in 1998, he applied to be the coach for the local chapter of Team in Training, and since then, the Fresno group has raised $15 million for cancer research. Volkman gets the best of it all. He gets to be part of the honorees' lives, some with sad endings and others who become inspirational survivors. He gets to turn everyday people into marathon runners, their lives and bodies transformed.

"You look at old pictures," he says, "and you don't even recognize some of them."

And he gets paid to do it, funding all his own marathon trips and paying off his house early, which is, of course, not why he does it, but still pretty nice.

"I get double satisfaction," he says. "You just go down the list. It's just incredible personal stories, peoples' lives who I've been able to be involved with."

He has plenty of his own stories -- that time his shoes were too tight in an ultramarathon and all his toenails fell off. Every fast step downhill sent pain screaming through his body. But he kept going fast. It's the only way he knows.

The columnist can be reached at mjames@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6217. Read his blog at www.fresno

Fargo Marathon 5/19/18

Fargo Marathon

May 19, 2018

4:10:22 665/1461 Overall   443/808 Male   3/8 in 65-69

            I had originally planned to do the Fargo Marathon last year, but due to injury, I was able to roll it over to this year. Fargo is in the far northeast corner of North Dakota. In fact, the marathon crossed the Red River boundary and ran through Minnesota for a short time. Fargo is a city of just over 100,000, and the marathon along with the short races is a huge event for the city. The expo was fairly good-sized and featured a lot of health exhibits since Sanford Health is the major sponsor.

            I had fun at the expo meeting some ladies from the Minnesota State University whose campus we would run through and a representative of the local Fellowship of Christian Athletes group. I did some exploring of the city afterwards and found that it was the home of Roger Maris who broke Babe Ruth’s single season home run record in 1961. There was a fun museum inside a local mall and I enjoyed remembering how Bill and I followed his quest for 61 in the first year that we really followed baseball.

            I also discovered a visitor center that had a small walk of fame with celebrities’ names and handprints. It had the “woodchipper” from the movie, Fargo. The Hjemkomst Center that I went to next featured a Viking Ship built by a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent in the 1970s. He died from cancer but the ship was sailed by his family all the way back to Norway. There is also a Stave Church on the grounds that again was built by a local as a labor of love and replicates those found in Norway from the 1500s. Additionally, I viewed a WWI exhibit there, and then saw Concordia College.

            The marathon started and finished in the Fargo Dome. The weather was cold with temps in low 40s and heavy winds making it feel-like 30s at the start. The weather warmed during the race and it was good running temp and cloudy, but the 20 mph headwinds especially in the last 6 miles made it tough to keep the pace I wanted. I was very happy at being able to run my goal pace of under 9:20 for most of the miles, but the many turns made the distance 26.45 miles. My first half was 2:04:47 so I had nearly even splits for the 2 halves. I was hoping to get close to or under 4:05, but the turns and wind didn’t let me quite do that. Nevertheless, I felt like I ran strongly and was not wiped out when I finished.

            The medal was the longest marathon medal I’ve gotten and had one of my favorite Bible verses on the back-Heb. 12:1. After ice bath, nap, and burger at 5 Guys, I did some more touring. I found the bridge between ND and MN that has some Veterans memorials on it. For dinner I got a large blizzard from Dairy Queen.

This was Marathon #159; 24 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/gallery/4feba295-4764-4379-930e-f53f8ac30145?type=shared (The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)

Montana Trip

            On Sunday I flew to Bozeman, MT to visit my Westmont buddies, Charlie and Ken. We’ve known each other since 1968 so I thought it would be great to stop by on my return trip from Fargo. Ken and Pam moved to Bozeman just a year ago. I enjoyed seeing the great interior decorating Ken has done in the house and some of the sports memorabilia that he has in the garage. On Monday Charlie joined us and we went to Yellowstone via the north entrance and saw parts that I had never seen before. These included the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake which is nearly as large as Lake Tahoe. We saw hot springs, impressive waterfalls, rock formations, buffalo, and elk. (We saw a number of Elk congregated near us and Ken commented, “Looks like an Elks Club meeting!” Same Ken. Lol)

            We had a late lunch at the restaurant near Old Faithful (we seen the geyser a few times before so skipped waiting to see it spout-off) and then headed back to Bozeman. Yellowstone is huge; we put in 300 miles and just saw small sections of it. Charlie and I dropped Ken off and then headed to Townsend, about an hour away, where Charlie and Becky live. I spent the night with them and then we enjoyed seeing the town which is a slice of Americana and Mayberry. We went to the White Sulphur Hot Springs; the hot mineral water felt great after having just run the marathon. After lunch in Townsend, Charlie and I drove back to Bozeman seeing a touching tribute to a fallen Highway Patrolman. Wednesday morning Ken and I went to breakfast in Bozeman and faced a pretty good downpour. Then I flew back home where Charlotte was glad to see me.

Photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/gallery/20bef2b5-7037-48c8-93a1-8b6af1da805e?type=shared (The description is roughly in order of the pictures.)

           

Boston Marathon 2018

Boston Marathon

April 16, 2018

John: 4:29:38 20,420/25,746 Overall  11,676/14,142 Male  217/450 in 65-69

 

          

      “You don’t have to be crazy to be a marathoner … but it helps” is what they say. The 122^nd  running of the Boston Marathon certainly lent credence to that concept. With wind chill temps in the 30s, 20-30 mph headwinds, steady rain that was at times extremely heavy, it was a challenging day for runners, spectators, and aid station crews. It was amazing that in spite of the weather, there were still 100s of thousands of fans out cheering us all on and the aid stations folks were undaunted. Highlight of the day for me was at mile 15 when the skies let loose with a downpour as I was passing an aid station: the volunteers all let out a huge cheer in unison. You talk about embracing the challenge! It was so inspiring. Great memory from my 20^th Boston Marathon and the 30^th anniversary of my 1^st one in 1988. It was also my 8^th in a row matching the 8 from 1994-2001.

            I was in the 4^th wave, 1^st corral, but after the 3^rd wave finished and they released us to head to corrals, they said “just go; no need to be waiting in the rain”. That was a great idea and allowed me to warm-up going to starting line and just keep going. I felt I ran a really comfortable race (as far as my legs go) and accomplished my 2 main goals: run all the hills and run the last 4 miles without hurting too much and having to walk. Happily I did both because I didn’t start too fast and just ran a conservative pace. Also, I did get one selfie in Wellsley because I wanted to show the ladies that braved the weather that we appreciated their extra effort. The numbers were smaller, but the ones out there were still loud and giving lots of high fives and kisses.

            The first half was 2:08:39, but the second half was slower because the heavy downpours hit me at 15, 17 and 21. Up until 15 my shoes were not too bad; after that they were soaked and heavy with water. Also, the wind in our face the second half was very strong and slowed me a lot.

The race was hard, but the hardest part was after I finished: my cousin was caught in traffic and I had to wait 1 hour and 30 minutes in wet, cold clothing in hotel lobby. Fortunately a lady asked if I needed anything because she saw how awful I looked. She got me coffee and a brownie and I started to revive!

            Also, I ran the race pain-free from the injury that I ran all of Boston with last year and which plagued me much of 2017. I ran 4:29 this year, exactly a minute per mile faster than last year (4:55). It really is so much better to run without injury pain. Also, just plain great to be done with this one! And finally, what a wonderful treat to get back to John and Linda’s and get a warm shower and dry clothes and then enjoy Linda’s dinner of steak and baked potato topped off with a bowl of ice cream. “Pain is temporary; glory is forever!” (Unknown skateboarder)

(The summary of my trip follows the order of the pictures on Shutterfly so please see them as you read.)

             We had a couple of send-offs in Fresno: Fleet Feet and Uncle Harry (and Aunt Amanda’s). Fun to run into Joanna and Deana in the SF Airport on way to Boston. And then when I went to the expo in Boston on Friday morning to run into Kyle Grossman and his family first thing. At the expo I saw Sal and Laura from Fresno. Note the pictures from some of the recent years. I expecially loved 2014 (where I proposed to Jodi at the top of Heartbreak Hill) and the caption of the picture notes “most memorable marathon”. I appreciate their pointing that out! I also bought Deena Kastor’s new book and got it autographed by her. I also ran into Joan Benoit Samuelson and said hello to her, reminding her that I had talked to her in Napa this year, too.

            There are some pics of John and Linda Duncan working on clearing the trees and brush on their land and of their dog, T-man. I had gotten very excited when I found out that the Celtics were hosting a playoff game Sunday afternoon, and that I could get a ticket. It was really fun to explore the new Garden since the only Celtic game I’d been to had been in 1994 with Bill and Paul Koopmans. It turned out to be an exciting game with the Bucks making a 40 foot shot with .5 seconds on the clock in regulation and then the Celts winning in OT.

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Photos: View Album

https://photos.shutterfly.com/story_invite/e19591e9-ad35-4afd-a1c8-be6a0601893f/70215222798

This was Marathon #158; 23 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces. Next up: Fargo-5/19/18

Houston Marathon 1/14/18

Houston Marathon

January 14, 2018

John: 4:06:33 2581/6998 Overall  1818/4317 Male  9/78 in 65-69

Jodi: 4:21:58 3279/6998 Overall 1023/2681 Female  115/358 45-49    

(The summary of our trip follows the order of the pictures on Shutterfly so please see them as you read.)

                                                            Jodi and I headed to Texas on Tuesday and landed right on time in Houston. We enjoyed a fish dinner at Landry’s on the Kemah Boardwalk with Larry and Rose Sambrano who had been co-workers with Jodi at Community Hospital and moved to Houston last year. It was a great start to a memorable Texas Trip!

            Wednesday morning, Jodi and I took the tour of Minute Maid Stadium, home of the World Series Champion Astros (the team that BEAT the Dodgers and are the major league affiliate of our Fresno Grizzlies). Did you know that the retractable roof weighs 90 tons and can be closed in only 15 minutes or that the 440 cushioned seats behind home plate will set you back about 20 grand a year? Also, the grass is a hybrid from Africa and is aerated twice a week. The manual scoreboard in left field is one of only three used in the majors with Wrigley and Fenway being the other two ballparks that have one.  Also, the Jumbo screen in right field is more than 7,000 square feet!

            After the tour we went to the Johnson Space Center. It was quite fascinating to relive some of the great and also sad moments in space history from the first man in space and the moon landing, to the two disasters where we lost astronauts due to mechanical failures. We even got to sit in the actual command center that you see in the movie Apollo 13.

            We then headed to Austin to visit my Muir cousins. Gordon and Doug are sons of my mom’s oldest sister, Lois, and are married to Pam and Sylvia. We stayed with Doug and Sylvia who helped us find a nice trail run along the Colorado River on Thursday morning. In the afternoon, Jodi and I took a tour of the state Capitol. Since this is Texas, the capitol building is the largest of all the 50 state capitols. As a librarian, I was fascinated reading about the short-story writer, O. Henry who spent a lot of time in Texas. I also found a Texas collar for Charlotte in the gift store.

            We also saw statues and pictures of Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin who all helped in the founding of Texas. Following the Battle of the Alamo, the Texans defeated Santa Ana’s Mexican army which outnumbered them 10-1 at the Battle of San Jacinto in just 38 minutes and allowed Texas to become its own country which it was for a short time before joining the US. In the evening, Doug and Sylvia took us to the top of Mount Bonnell which is near their home and is the highest point in Austin. It presents a panoramic view of Austin and the Colorado River. We then had dinner at Pam and Gordon’s where we were joined by Gordie and his family.

            Friday we all visited the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum on the campus of the University of Texas. It features the remains of the sunken ship La Belle which the explorer La Salle had used. There are great displays of the Alamo, oil derricks, and famous Texans. We enjoyed lunch together on campus. There is a famous bell tower on campus that a shooter used in 1966 to kill 16 people. We found out that Sylvia was on campus a short distance from there and heard the shots. It made me think of my hearing the bombs at the Boston Marathon in 2013. It’s very eerie to think of being so close to a tragedy. That evening we joined the two couples for their Friday night tradition of dinner together at a local Tex-Mex restaurant which was pretty spicy for us. Then we headed back to Houston on Saturday morning stopping along the way, on Sylvia’s advice, at Hruska’s where we found out about and ate some of their famous Kolaches.

            Back in Houston, we headed to the marathon expo. Walking down the hallway, Jodi spied Meb and acted like a starstuck teenager so we got our picture taken with him. We also ran into Mark Yost from the Baltimore area. We had met him at Shawn and Dorina Young’s wedding and knew he was going to be there. So amazing to happen to be at the expo at the same moment and run into him. Since Jodi had run into Meb, it was also fun that I got to see Kara Goucher there, too.

            That night we went to our pasta dinner with Jonathon, who is Doug and Sylvia’s son and works for the marathon sponsor, Chevron. He was able to come out and cheer for us at a couple of places during the race and even got some pictures and video of us running. After the race we got to have some Texas bbq with Jonathon at the House of Blues and then dessert at the House of Pies.

            Oh, yes the marathon: It was a cold (high 30s, low 40s) day and a flat course, perfect for a fast race. I was able to shave 2 minutes off my time at Indy in Nov and qualify for Boston by 3 ½ minutes. Jodi ran into some stomach issues and half-way through decided it was prudent to save her best effort for Napa in March and use Houston as a good, long training run. We loved the great organization of the race including the warm convention center where we went before and after the race to drop our sweats and then pick them up along with a hot breakfast. Houston is as well-organized as any marathon I’ve run and is highly recommended. It runs through neat neighborhoods, past Rice University and along some beautiful homes before re-entering downtown.

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Photos: View Album https://photos.shutterfly.com/story_invite/bcf0af39-b636-4d52-836a-74fb8e322856/70203298100

This was Marathon #157; 23 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces. Next up: Jodi-Napa 3/4/18; Me-Boston 4/16/18